WEEKLY E-NEWS FROM THE NORTH CAROLINA BIOTECHNOLOGY CENTER

IN FOCUS FEATURE

State's First Center of Innovation Grant Awarded

From Our Web Site

AAIPharma Expands Offshore Operations
The Wilmington-based drug development firm has expanded its overseas operations with the addition of a seven-person staff in Budapest, Hungary.

Norris Tolson Chats with Bill Friday Nov. 16
William Friday interviews Norris Tolson, president and CEO of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, about biotechnology on UNC-TV's "North Carolina People" program.

Data Project Brings $970,000 to Hamner Institutes
The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences has received a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to analyze the effects of certain chemicals and pesticides on human health.

Lantibio Signs Deal on Dry Eye Treatment
Chapel Hill-based Lantibio and Switzerland's TRB Chemedica have signed a licensing agreement with a subsidiary of Swiss-based Alcon for the U.S. development, marketing, and manufacture of a product to treat dry eye syndrome.

SCYNEXIS and DNDi to Identify Sleeping Sickness Treatments
The companies will jointly research and development medication to treat Human African Trypanosomiasis (also known as sleeping sickness), one of the most devastating diseases in sub-Saharan Africa.

AstraZeneca Pays $2M for Targacept Product Candidate
The companies want to use the compound to treat Alzheimer's disease, cognitive deficits in schizophrenia and other cognitive disorders.

N.C. Business Climate Tops for Site Selection
Site Selection Magazine ranked North Carolina's business climate as best in the country for the third year in a row.

In Focus

State's First Center of Innovation Grant Awarded

A tiny technology has united the efforts of three Piedmont Triad universities in a research partnership.

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Wake Forest University will collaborate to raise the state's prominence in nanobiotechnology.

This area of science tests and develops products and applications on particles that are measured by the nanometer, or billionth of a meter. A typical human hair is about 80,000 nanometers across.

The collaboration has received a $100,000 award from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, the first such award in the new Centers of Innovation program.

Read the complete article.

News from Other Sites

ParagonDx Banks Success on Saliva-Based DNA Test
"The Morrisville-based company expects to roll out by the first quarter of next year a test that uses saliva instead of blood to check a patient's DNA. This first product would test a patient's DNA for sensitivity to warfarin, a blood thinner often prescribed for stroke patients."
From The Triangle Business Journal

Gaston County School Buses Running on Cooking Oil
"Gaston County Schools was the first school system in the U.S. to make its own biodiesel. "
From The Gaston Gazette

Pozen's Profit: $14.8 Million
"The drug developer -- which last year had a third-quarter loss of $4.1 million -- posted a profit of $14.8 million, 48 cents per share, in the third quarter of this year. Revenue, the company said, rose eight-fold to $27.6 million. And it said it has more cash -- $79 million -- than it has had in five years. "
From The (Raleigh) News and Observer

Community Watch

• GlaxoSmithKline in Research Triangle Park has sold its irritable bowel therapy Lotronex to Prometheus Laboratories of San Diego.
• BioDelivery Sciences International has relocated its corporate headquarters from Morrisville to Raleigh to accommodate additional employees.
• AAIPharma of Wilmington has added a 10-employee clinical research team based in Johannesburg, South Africa, to its worldwide clinical research capabilities.
• Don Bailey, Ph.D., of RTI International in Research Triangle Park, has been elected president of the Board of Directors for the National Fragile X Foundation.
• Barbara Kennedy of RTI International has been promoted to vice president of International Health in RTI International's International Development Group.
• Metabolon of Research Triangle Park has acquired intellectual property from Cogenics Icoria, a subsidiary of Clinical Data, including patents related to metabolomics methods and data analysis as well as carcinogenicity and toxicity biomarkers.
• A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shows the Stamford, Connecticut, biotechnology investment firm XMark Funds has bought 5 percent – more than 2 million shares – of Durham-based Icagen.

Please send Community Watch items to Jim Shamp.

This newsletter was sent on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007. For the latest North Carolina biotechnology industry headlines, please visit the news section of our Web site.

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